There’s tons of newness for Ohio State in 2025, but that’s especially true on the defensive side of the football.
All four defensive line starters are new. Half of the Buckeyes’ starting linebacker corps and 60% of their starting secondary are new. In total, eight of the 11 starters for their season opener will be new. The defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, is new.
Those fresh faces get thrown into the fire with a showdown to open the season against the No. 1-ranked team in college football, Texas, one debuting a projected superstar quarterback in Arch Manning and returning a 1,000-yard rusher in Tre Wisner. A dive into Ohio State’s defensive line reveals a broad pool of talent, but there’s no replacing a lack of starting experience.
Everyone has to do their job for the first time sometime, though, and what veterans the Buckeyes do have defensively are some of the best in college football.
The Eleven Warriors Season Preview continues with an overview of the Silver Bullets entering the 2025 season.
Here’s the state of the Silver Bullets entering the 2025 season.
The Stars
Caleb Downs
With so much newness around, it’s nice to bring back the best defensive player in the nation. Downs is going to line up all over Ohio State’s secondary and make plays in both the run and pass games, as he did for the national champion Buckeyes last year. A freshman All-American at Alabama in 2023, Downs was a unanimous All-American for the Buckeyes in 2024, finishing the year with 81 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and six pass breakups.
“Caleb’s been a leader since he’s gotten here,” cornerback Davison Igbinosun said on Tuesday. “I call him Coach Downs. He just knows so much football, so he’s a natural leader in that sense.”
Sonny Styles
Styles enters his senior season ready to pay off a four-year Ohio State journey. He’s the biggest leader on the roster, a team captain and the Buckeyes’ “Block O” jersey recipient. On the field, he was the most improved player of the vaunted 2024 Silver Bullets, converting from safety to linebacker in the offseason to register 100 tackles, 10.5 TFLs and six sacks. He’s a physical freak and is a Butkus Award candidate as one of the country’s premier linebackers entering 2025.
Davison Igbinosun
If Igbinosun, the last of Ohio State’s three returning starters on defense, cuts down on his penalties, he could be an All-American at cornerback. He allowed just 32 receptions for 368 yards on 60 targets last year, a completion rate of 53.3% and 6.1 yards per target, per Pro Football Focus. Only seven of the FBS’ 134 teams averaged 6.1 yards per pass attempt or worse in 2024. He also made the second-best defensive play of the Buckeyes’ season (after Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score against Texas, of course).
WHAT AN UNREAL INTERCEPTION
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 2, 2024
How did Davison Igbinosun even catch this for @OhioStateFB?! pic.twitter.com/YlvorsDzSE
Those penalties are something he’ll need to cut back on, however. He drew 16 flags last season.
“The biggest thing about the penalties is just turning my head around and playing the football,” Igbinosun said. “I feel like I’ve been doing that throughout spring practice and training camp.”
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
For three years, Jackson waited his turn behind now-NFL defensive ends Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau. His time has arrived to go from depth piece to anchor at defensive end. He’s got the size, strength and athleticism to be a force off the edge.
“I think last year with those two in the room, Jack and JT, it's kind of hard for him to find his way into leadership,” Styles said at Big Ten Media Days. “And now, he feels like it's his time. I can tell his confidence is through the roof. His maturity is through the roof. He's so mature. He's just doing so well. I think he gained a few pounds. He looks like a first-round D-end. Exactly what it’s supposed to look like. He has all the tools, so it’s going to be a big year.”
The X-Factors
Arvell Reese
Just look at this dude. Look at him (on the left).
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 4, 2025
@arvxll
@CadenCurry14
@MalikHartford pic.twitter.com/Y4kDRkjvxn
Reese showed flashes as Ohio State’s third linebacker in 2024, picking up 43 tackles with 3.5 TFLs in a rotational role. Now that he’s a starter, he could explode as a superstar, which would be an obvious boost to the Buckeyes’ defense. He’s got the build to be a fearsome edge rusher in special packages for the defense if the team desires, too. It’s one of the reasons linebackers coach James Laurinaitis called him “freakish.”
“It's violence,” Laurinaitis said on Aug. 6. “It's violence at the point of attack, and his ability to run. I mean, violence and ability to run. He can do a lot of different things that you dream of when you get to the linebacker position.”
Jermaine Mathews Jr.
Mathews cut his teeth in big spots as both a freshman and sophomore, seeing 137 snaps during Ohio State’s four-game CFP gauntlet this past December and January. His yards per target number was even better than Igbinosun’s at an even 6, and he added 22 tackles with 2.5 TFLs. He and Igbinosun both feature physical play styles with plenty of trash talk and have All-American tools, which could make for one of the top cornerback tandems in the country if all goes to plan.
Kayden McDonald
A centerpiece in one of the best goal-line defenses ever in college football last year, McDonald raising his level to couple with Ohio State’s linebacker arsenal could give the Buckeyes a devastating run defense. McDonald weighs in at 326 pounds but gets off the ball quickly. The question that remains for him is his conditioning as his snap count receives a dramatic increase. He attacked that this offseason.
The Questions
How creative does Matt Patricia get with the defense’s versatile personnel?
Patricia’s reputation as a defensive coordinator is one of placing various pieces in the best positions to be successful. His schemes are multiple, and with the talent at his disposal in Columbus, there are opportunities for tons of different looks.
Downs can line up at deep safety, nickel or in a package similar to what Ohio State often ran in the CFP that places him in the middle of the field 10 yards off the line of scrimmage or so. Jaylen McClain and Malik Hartford, who are battling to start at strong safety, are expected to see the field together in some such looks. The Buckeyes are three-deep with starting-caliber linebackers as Laurinaitis sees it, with Payton Pierce providing 4-3 options. Reese could be a unique pass rusher in some odd fronts, but so can C.J. Hicks off the bench at defensive end.
Lots of chess pieces. How does Patricia mount his attack?
Do the Buckeyes have the depth they need at defensive tackle?
This has been the primary concern all offseason for the Ohio State defense, at least where pundits (including this one) are concerned. Starting 3-technique DT Eddrick Houston’s preseason injury isn’t alleviating those worries. Will Smith Jr. is reportedly stepping up to back up MccDonald at nose, but the Buckeyes still need to see more from redshirt senior Tywone Malone Jr. and redshirt sophomore Jason Moore, lest they be passed up by surging freshman Jarquez Carter.
Defensive line coach Larry Johnson said Thursday that he’s been pleased with the growth of his defensive tackles, and that it’s not a lack of bodies, but a lack of experience for Ohio State at that position. Of course, there’s not a lot of time to gain experience with the Longhorns coming to town.
“These young guys have gotta get ready, it is what it is,” Johnson said. “You’ve never been a reporter until you became a reporter, right? So it’s the same thing in football, these guys haven’t started. But we’re working to make sure that happens.”
Will Ohio State’s pass rush excel?
Similar to the conversation around the defensive tackle depth, there aren’t many proven pass rushers at Ohio State’s disposal. Beau Atkinson had 7.5 sacks last season at North Carolina and Logan George had six last year at Idaho State, but none of Ohio State’s returning defensive linemen have tallied more than 2.5 sacks in a season.
Caden Curry is the projected starter alongside Jackson at defensive end with Atkinson and Hicks providing options from the bench, plus Patricia’s aforementioned creativity can get linebackers and others involved on blitzes. The Buckeyes’ defensive tackles will need to collapse the pocket, too.
Freshman to Watch
Devin Sanchez
Jeremiah Smith proved impossible to keep off the field as a generational talent at wide receiver in 2024, and the same could be true for Sanchez in 2025. Even if the cornerback room is too stacked for him to find a ton of reps with Mathews and Igbinosun starting outside and redshirt senior Lorenzo Styles Jr. playing nickel, plus another five-star pushing for playing time in redshirt freshman Aaron Scott Jr., the fluid-as-water Texan is a star in the making.
Overall Outlook
Ohio State’s ceiling is to be the best defense in the FBS again in 2025 despite returning only three starters from last year’s elite squadron. A lot needs to click for that to happen, but the athleticism and talent at linebacker, combined with two veterans and gobs of talent in the secondary means that, if the defensive line is up to the task, teams are going to find a lot of trouble moving the ball against this group once more.
